FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND MARINE ENGINEERING

COURSE OUTLINE FOR

ENGINEERING MECHANICS 114 (STATICS) – AMC511S

STATEMENT ABOUT ACADEMIC HONESTY AND INTEGRITY

All staff and students of the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), upon signing their employment
contracts and registration forms, respectively, commit themselves to abide by the policies and rules of the institution.
The core activity of the NUST is learning and in this respect academic honesty and integrity is very important to ensure
that learning is valid, reliable and credible.

The NUST therefore does not condone any form of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism and cheating on tests and
assessments, amongst other such practices. The NUST requires students to always do their own assignments and to
produce their own academic work, unless given a group assignment.

Academic Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to:

• Using the ideas, words, works or inventions of someone else as if it is your own work.
• Using the direct words of someone else without quotation marks, even if they are referenced.
• Copying from writings (books, articles, webpages, other students’ assignments, etc.), published or unpublished,
without referencing.
• Syndication of a piece of work, all or part of an assignment, by a group of students, unless the assignment was
a legitimate group assignment.
• The borrowing and use of another person’s assignment, with or without their knowledge or permission.
• Infringing copyright, including documents copied or cut and pasted from the internet.
• Asking someone else to prepare an assignment for you or to write or sit an assessment for you, whether this is
against payment or not.
• Re-submitting work done already for another course or programme as new work, so-called self-plagiarism.
• Bringing notes into an examination or test venue, regardless of whether the notes were used to copy or not.
• Receiving any outside assistance in any form or shape during an examination or test.

All forms of academic dishonesty are viewed as misconduct under the NUST Student Rules and Regulations. Students
who make themselves guilty of academic dishonesty will be brought before a Disciplinary Committee and may be
suspended from studying for a certain time or may be expelled. All students who are found guilty of academic dishonesty
shall have an appropriate endorsement on their academic record, which will never be erased.

COVID-19 ADHERENCE CLAUSE

“Campus activities that involve physical contact, whether in a meeting, laboratory, assessment, tutorial/lecture, will be
held under strict COVID-19 National Health and Safety Protocols. Students not adhering to such National Regulations,
i.e., wearing masks correctly to cover both the mouth and nose, social distancing of at least 1.5 m, hand sanitising and
refraining from campus activities when experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, will not be allowed into a venue.”

Course Outline: Engineering Mechanics 114 (AMC511S); Semester 1 – 2021-Rev-1 1

 1. COURSE INFORMATION

1.1. COURSE CODE AND TITLE:

AMC511S – Engineering Mechanics 114 (Statics)

1.2. DEPARTMENT:
Mechanical and Marine Engineering (DMME)

1.3. PROGRAMMES:
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) - Mechanical Engineering (08BEME-S1)
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) – Industrial Engineering (08BIND-S1)
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) - Electrical Power Engineering (08BEEP-S1)
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) - Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering (08BEET-S1)
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) - Metallurgical Engineering (08BMET-S1)
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) - Chemical Engineering (08BECE-S1)
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) - Mining Engineering 08BMIN-S1)

1.4. CONTACT HOURS:

4 hours/week

1.5. NQF LEVEL AND CREDIT:

Level 5; 12 Credits

1.6. COURSE OUTLINE REVISION DATE:

19th March 2021.

1.7. COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Statics deals with the equilibrium of bodies under the action of forces. Its principles are foundational to most fields in
engineering. This is a core course to be completed in the first semester and is prerequisite to many subsequent courses.

The course aims at equipping the students with the necessary skills required to carry out the basic analysis of the
equilibrium of forces and moments and applications to friction; and the analysis of centroids and moments of inertia.

1.8. PREREQUISITES:
1.8.1. Courses: None
1.8.2. Essential Mathematics Topics: Vectors; Trigonometry; Calculus (Differentiation and Integration)

1.9. COURSE EQUIVALENCIES:

None

1.10. COURSE DELIVERY METHODS:

This course will be presented through a series of lectures (virtual/online), tutorials (face-to-face and/or virtual). Use
will be made, throughout, of the face-to-face presentations ‘black board’ or ‘white board’; power-point presentations,
the Zoom/MS Teams (for virtual/online sessions), the prescribed textbook to illustrate theoretical concepts. The main
approach will be for the student to obtain the theoretical knowledge and then investigate the practical applications of
these concepts.

• Lectures: During lectures, the lecturer presents the theoretical concepts of the course to the students, through
black board and/or power-point presentations, and other appropriate methods.

• Tutorials: During tutorials, the lecturer with student participation solves problems from the prescribed textbook or
other appropriate sources gives hints on how to solve these problems for the students to deepen their
understanding of the theoretical concepts, to sharpen their analytical skills and to get clarity on areas of
weakness. However, for most of the exercises/problems, the lecturer gives hints only on how to solve the problems.

• Self-study: During self-study sessions, the students are expected, on their own and in their own time, to study and
solve problems based on the topics covered in the class sessions for them to become conversant with the
theoretical concepts of the course and to sharpen their analytical skills even further.
Course Outline: Engineering Mechanics 114 (AMC511S); Semester 1 – 2021-Rev-1 2
• Feedback: During feed-back sessions, students receive feed-back from the lecturer based on information obtained
during his/her assessment of students’ work which was previously submitted for marking.

The following communication tools will be used in this course:

Communication outside the ‘classroom’ will involve any or all of the following modes: Email, Student server,
E-learning platform (Moodle/MyNUST), Notice boards, WhatsApp, etc.

Course Format:
• The major components of this course are Lectures @ 3 hours per week, Tutorials @ 1 hour every week. The
complete schedule is shown under “Course Schedule and Important Dates”.

2. LECTURER INFORMATION

Lecturer’s Name: Mr. Andrew Zulu

Email: azulu@nust.na
Office phone: (061) 207 2514
Office location: G05, Ground Floor, ‘Old Engineering Building’
Office hours: 07h30 – 16h30
Consultation hours: Mondays (08:30-10:30) & Wednesdays (09:30-11:30)

NB: These consultation hours may change when the timetable is out or when it is revised. In addition, students are free
to make appointments with the lecturer during working hours to seek further clarification of concepts covered in class.
Consultation days and times will be ordinarily based on available slots in the course timetable. Consultation times can
also be found on the lecturer’s door.

3. STUDENT READINESS

3.1. TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT READINESS:

Laptop; You Tube channel; On-line screen recording and editing software; Home internet connectivity.

3.2. STUDENT COMMITMENT AND CONTACT TIMES:

• A register of attendance will be maintained, and students are expected to attend at least 80% of all lecture and
tutorial sessions, as this will be to their own benefit.
• For face-to-face sessions, no student will be allowed to enter the classroom during a lecture/tutorial session ten
(10) minutes after the start of the session (to avoid disturbances). In short, late coming will not be tolerated!
• The use of cell phones during contact sessions: The use of mobile/cell phones or any electronic audio devices is
strictly not allowed during all contact sessions (lectures, laboratory sessions, tutorials and examinations, etc.),
unless under the explicit permission of the lecturer [See section AC3.1, page 20 (last paragraph) of Yearbook – Part
1 General Information and Regulations 2020].
• The three basic classroom rules for this course are summarised as follows:
(i) No late coming to contact sessions (both face-to-face and virtual).
(ii) No use of cell phones during contact sessions (unless under the explicit permission of the lecturer/facilitator).
(iii) No aimless talk during contact sessions (all talking must be constructive and controlled). The raising of hands is
mandatory in order to be allowed to talk.

3.3. COURSE RESOURCES:

None.

3.4. PRESCRIBED READING:

Engineering Mechanics Statics, 8th Edition, J L Meriam & L G Kraige, John Wiley & Sons Inc., ISBN 978-1-119-04467-3.

3.5. RECOMMENDED READING:

• Engineering Mechanics Statics, 12th Edition, R C Hibbeler, ISBN-13 978-981-06-8134-0.
• Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics, 8th Edition, McGraw-Hill, F P Beer et al, ISBN 978-0073212197.
• Engineering Mechanics Statics & Dynamics, SI Edition, A Pytel & J Kiusalaas, HarperCollins, ISBN 0-673-99872-X.

Course Outline: Engineering Mechanics 114 (AMC511S); Semester 1 – 2021-Rev-1 3

 4. STUDENT LEARNING

4.1. LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course of study, you should be able to:

• Apply the methods of statics to analyse forces and moments in both 2D and 3D.

• Apply equilibrium principles to statically determinate structures in both 2D and 3D.

• Apply equilibrium principles to plane trusses, frames and machines in 2-D and 3-D.

• Analyse the concept of dry friction and its applications in simple machines.

• Calculate centroids, centres of length, area, mass and gravity of bodies by integration and using the method of
composite bodies.

• Calculate area moments of inertia for the analysis of stability for bodies by integration and using the method of
composite bodies.

4.2. COURSE CONTENT AND CONTENT OUTCOMES:

CONTENT OUTCOMES
1. Force Systems
Apply the methods of statics to analyse forces and moments in both 2D and 3D:
a) Perform operations on vectors: addition, subtraction, projection, dot product, cross product, scalar triple
product.
b) Define and analyse mathematically/by computer a force; and describe the principle of transmissibility of a force
acting on a rigid body.
c) Define, describe and give examples of contact forces, body forces and concentrated forces.
d) Calculate the (vector) components and the moment of a force in 2-D and 3-D.
e) Define, describe force couple systems and apply the Principle of Moments (Varignon’s Theorem) on concurrent
forces.
f) Determine the action, reaction and resultant of a system of coplanar/spatial concurrent and non -concurrent
forces.

2. Equilibrium
Apply equilibrium principles to statically determinate structures in both 2D and 3D:
a) Define the concept of static equilibrium in both 2D and 3D.
b) Draw free-body diagrams (FBDs) for a single rigid body in equilibrium.
c) Describe the equilibrium conditions for 2D and 3D force systems.
d) Model and analyze mathematically/by computer the properties and the effects of force acting on a system of
rigid bodies in equilibrium.

3. Structures
Apply equilibrium principles to plane trusses, frames and machines in 2-D and 3-D:
a) Define Newton’s third law in engineering structures and apply to the equilibrium of collinear and concurrent
forces.
b) Draw and fully annotate free-body diagrams (FBDs) for isolated rigid bodies or isolated subsets of connected
rigid bodies and calculate external reaction forces.
c) Model and analyze mathematically/by computer the internal forces acting in several types of structures by
using the method of joints and the method of sections.
d) Calculate internal forces in frames and machines with methods of joints and sections.

4. Friction
Analyse the concept of dry friction and its applications in simple machines:
a) Define, identify and list types of friction.
b) Model and analyse mathematically/by computer the properties and effects of friction between surfaces in
contact with each other.
c) Apply friction concept to simple machines: wedges, screws, belts.

5. Distributed Forces, Centroids and Centres of Lengths, Areas and Mass

Course Outline: Engineering Mechanics 114 (AMC511S); Semester 1 – 2021-Rev-1 4

 Calculate centroids, centres of length, area, mass and gravity of bodies by integration and using the method of
composite bodies:
a) Define the concept of distributed and concentrated forces.
b) Calculate mathematically the location of the centre of mass and centroid of bodies by applying the principle of
moments through integration.
c) Calculate mathematically the location of the centre of mass and centroid of bodies by applying the principle of
moments through the method of composite bodies.
d) Calculate the areas and volumes of revolution using the Theorems of Pappus-Guldinus by rotating lines and
areas.

6. Area Moments of Inertia

Calculate area moments of inertia for the analysis of stability for bodies by integration and using the method of
composite bodies:
a) Define and calculate the moments of inertia of a surface and radius of gyration by integration.
b) Calculate the moment of inertia of bodies using the transfer of axes (Parallel axes) theorem.
c) Calculate the moment of inertia of composite areas.

4.3. COURSE SCHEDULE AND IMPORTANT DATES:

NOTE: The following dates are subject to change based on the needs of the students at the lecturer’s prerogative.
Students will be notified ahead of time of any changes.

Week Date Topic/Activity Learning Hours

L T E A S
1 29 Mar - 02 Apr Course introduction and vectors 3 1 4
2 5 - 9 Apr Intro to force systems - comps, moments, couples 3 1 2 4
3 12 - 16 Apr Force systems-resultants,3D 3 1 4
4 19 - 23 Apr Equilibrium – FBDs 3 1 4
Equilibrium conditions; Equilibrium in 3D; Q1 (Force 3
5 26 - 30 Apr 1 4
systems & Equilibrium)
6 3 - 7 May Equilibrium in 3D; Structures – method of joints 3 1 2 4
7 10 - 14 May Structures – method of sections 3 1 4
Structures – space truss, frames and machines; E1 2
8 17 - 21 May 2 4
(Force systems, Equilibrium and Structures)
9 24 - 28 May Friction – introduction, types, cases; application in 3 1 2 4
machines: wedges, screws, belts; Q2 (Structures and
Friction)
Introduction to distributed forces and centroids; 3
10 31 May - 4 Jun Centroids and centres of mass by integration 1 4
11 7 - 11 Jun Distributed forces- composite bodies; Pappus/Guld; 3 1 4
Q3 (Centroids)
Q3
Second
(Centroids)
moments of area by integration 3 2
12 14 - 18 Jun 1 4

13 21 - 25 Jun Second moments of area - composite bodies Products 2 2 4

of inertia; E2 (Friction, Centroids and Area moments
of Inertia)

Totals 37 11 4 8 52

Legend
E Exam F Feedback
T Tutorial/Quiz S Self-study
L Lecture

Course Outline: Engineering Mechanics 114 (AMC511S); Semester 1 – 2021-Rev-1 5

4.4. ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION:

Assessment Summary:
Diversified Continuous Evaluation Components Minimum Pass Component Weight (CW)
Mark (%) (%)
Two (2) Examinations (E) 50 65
Three (3) Tutorials Quizzes (Q) 30
Five (5) Self-assessment Quizzes (MyNUST/Moodle) (M) 5
Total: 50 100

In order to pass this course, a student must obtain a minimum AVERAGE of 50% in the examinations and a minimum
final mark of 50% for the course, calculated as follows:

Final_mark = 0.65*E + 0.30*Q + 0.05*M

The assessment strategy in this course is based on the continuous and diversified assessment system (CASS) of
evaluation. It is the students’ responsibility to be familiar with and adhere to the institution (NUST)’s assessment
policies. These policies can be found in the Yearbooks (Parts 1 and 5).

Examination Events:
The institution’s examinations procedures will apply. See the Examinations Procedures Manual (Part 4: Student
Information. Each student is expected to familiarise themselves with ‘Part 4.B’ of this manual.
• All examinations will be written under ‘typical examination conditions’.
• During an examination, all students are required to arrive at the examination venue at least thirty (30) minutes
before the start of an examination. Any student who arrives at an examination venue more than one (1) hour after
the examination has started will not be allowed to take the examination.

Self-Assessment Quizzes:
During self-assessment quiz sessions, students will practice solving problems through self-assessment multiple-
attempt questions and problems. Students will be expected to solve self-marking problems on Moodle with feedback
immediately after submission. Multiple attempts will be allowed to help students perfect their analytical skills and such
quizzes will be open for a whole week to facilitate multiple attempts. These quizzes will contribute to the final mark so
that students can take them seriously. These quizzes do not have individual deadlines but a hard deadline of the date
when Exam 2 is written. It is recommended that they are attempted in the order of the topics being covered.

5. COURSE POLICIES

5.1. GENERAL ACADEMIC POLICIES:

It is the student's responsibility to be familiar with and adhere to the institution’s Policies. These Policies can be found
in the NUST Prospectus or online at https://www.nust.na (Download Documents).

5.2. SUPPLEMENTARY POLICIES:

The supplementary policies are found in the Faculty of Engineering Yearbook, section C. The term ‘examination’ refers
to an assessment conducted under controlled (examination) conditions. Some of the salient points are:
• A student who fails or misses any or all of the first-opportunity examinations will be allowed to write a
supplementary examination towards the end of the semester.
• The above-mentioned student will be given the opportunity to improve their results for all but one (1) such failed-
or missed examination.
• No student who obtains a mark of less than 50 % for the supplementary examination passes the course.
• The maximum final mark allocated for the examination component of the course (i.e., the aggregated mark of all
examination assessments as defined in C.2), will be 50%.

Course Outline: Engineering Mechanics 114 (AMC511S); Semester 1 – 2021-Rev-1 6

 6. ECSA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION
6.1. KNOWLEDGE AREAS:

Classification of Basic Complimentary Computing & Engineering Engineering Mathematical

Knowledge Areas Sciences Studies Information Design & Sciences Sciences
(Weighted by Technologies Synthesis
Percentage) 70% 20 10

6.2. GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES (GAs):

1 2 3 4 5
Problem Application of scientific Engineering design Investigations, Engineering methods,
solving and engineering experiments & data skills and tools, including
knowledge analysis information technology
XX X
6 7 8 9 10
Professional & Sustainability & impact Individual, team & Independent Engineering
technical of engineering activity multidisciplinary learning ability professionalism
communication working

11
Engineering
management

Legend: X – Minor; XX – Significant; XXX – GAs examined at exit level.

7. OTHER INFORMATION

7.1. FAILURE TO PAY FEES:

A student who fails to pay his/her fees may not be allowed to write the examination and if allowed, the results will be
withheld until all outstanding fees are paid in full.

7.2. IMPORTANT STUDENT SERVICES AT THE NUST

There are a variety of services which you can use at the NUST. These services are to your advantage – Use them!!! They
include the following:

• Student Counseling and Career Development – Department: Students Services

• Writing Centre and student academic problems –Teaching and Learning Unit (TLU)
• Campus Health and Wellness Centre (CHWC) - Student Services/ NUST Clinic

7.3. AUTHORISATION:
This course outline is authorised for use by:

Head of Department Date

Course Outline: Engineering Mechanics 114 (AMC511S); Semester 1 – 2021-Rev-1 7

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BY STUDENT

(To be completed by all students on the course, detached from the course outline and kept on record in the
department)

I, ………………………………………………………………………………………………, of Student number: …………………………………………………,

(First name(s) and Surname)

hereby acknowledge that I have received this course outline for AMC511S – Engineering Mechanics 114 and that I have
familiarised myself with its content, in particular the statement about academic honesty and integrity and the COVID -
19 adherence clause. I agree to abide by the Policies and arrangements spelt out in this course outline.

………………………………………………………………………….. ……………….……………
Signature of student Date

Course Outline: Engineering Mechanics 114 (AMC511S); Semester 1 – 2021-Rev-1 8